Re The Last Louisville Reunion

Subject: Re: The “Last” Louisville Reunion

An Email exchange between Linda Bunting and Bill Oberdorf

On Oct 7, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Linda Bunting wrote:

Dear Ones, This is from a long time friend whom we’ve yet to meet in the flesh, but our hearts and spirits are as one. He has written me almost every day since the meeting ended. His are being posted on the web-site. Don’t miss them. He was with CLC for years and in these last days is speaking as a prophet among us.

From: “Bill Oberdorf”

Subject: Re: The “Last” Louisville Reunion

Linda,

You have no idea how your reply thrilled me!  I had actually re-written parts of my e-mail and “toned” it down quite a bit prior to my getting it into the “mail” to you.

I had previously used the scripture in Romans 8 which refers to this glorious and most anxiously awaited event (I believe the word event is an extremely weak description!).  The Phillips translation of that portion of scripture reads as follows: “ Rom 8:18-21..” In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own”.  Isn’t that an exciting translation of that which I believe may very well be the “next item of God’s agenda!

Linda, I don’t know just how simply reading this scripture effects you, but I have to refrain myself from shouting “Hallelujah”…YES, LORD!  I first had my spiritual eyes opened and began embracing and ministering that message in the mid to late 70’s.  As you probably already know, that was not exactly what the institutional church wanted to hear and probably much of “religion” still does not want to hear it.  However, I believe that we stand on the spiritual precipice of God beginning to raise up and send forth many “voices crying in the wilderness…..LET MY PEOPLE GO!”  God is so in love with His people and is jealous for their love in return.  They are His sheep….not some man’s or ministry!   I believe that its time for us to “buckle our seat belts” because we are about to experience the ride of our lives.  We truly “have not been this way before”!  God’s will and purpose will not be stopped, what He has determined, He will do, and that without consulting with man and asking for his permission!  This earth will truly “be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea” and their isn’t a man or devil who will be able to stop Him from accomplishing that which He determines to do.  I believe that the time is come for us all to “take off all our man-made limitations that we have placed upon the Lord and surrender our boxes of religion in which we have vainly tried to keep Him because He is about to break loose and manifest Himself as He truly is and always has been and I believe that is a far cry from what religion has made Him out to be!  My heart is full and from the depths of my being, there is rising a shout of praise for what He has begun in a people whom He has in His sovereignty apprehended for Himself to proclaim and manifest Christ as our life.  I just recently said to a brother at work that I truly believe most of the earth has “heard the gospel” at one time or another, but…..it has not yet seen it manifested through a people”!

I must bring this to a close for now.  My wife is now off work and should be coming home any moment now, so I need to take a shower and clean up prior to her arrival, since I have been working cleaning the house all day to surprise her.

Our love to you and John,

Bill

From: Linda Bunting=

To: Bill Oberdorf

Bill, You are a prophet to my ears. You speak of ‘what is to come’….. the long awaited rising of the ‘SONS’ of God. 

Those of who have been ‘apprehended by’…. THE ONE.

Those of us who ‘now fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ”… and also those of us who labor, striving according to His power which mightily works in us.

Thank you, thank you, dear friend. 

Linda

On Oct 7, 2011, at 9:56 AM, Bill Oberdorf wrote:

Good Morning!

Just a note in reply to your last e-mail.

Unfortunately, South Boston is about 165 or more miles from where we live, but thanks for sharing the itinerary.

No, John and Kathleen Whittle were not at CLC during the time we were there, but it is quite possible that they were our”neighbors up the hill” (WEC) from us.  If I am not mistaken, I read at least one book that John had written, which I believe was titled, “Man Alive”, but it has been quite a while since I read it, so I could easily be mistaken.

In answer to your other question concerning the first name of Ken Adam’s wife……I believe that you are correct and that Bessie may have been her name and not Betsy as I had thought.

Now that you mentioned it, our paths may have crossed quite a number of years ago.  Perhaps we were in the same meeting and didn’t even realize it!  Had that been the case, I wish we had met you and John and had an opportunity to have a time of fellowship.

In closing, I want you to know that I really enjoyed reading today’s article written by Sandy Hatchell  which I received from the ChristAsUs website.  I praise God for the transformation that is (beginning) to truly manifest in and through a people .  How our hearts have yearned and cried out for this manifestation…..not of “us” or about “us”, but of CHRIST manifesting Himself, not only to us, but in us and through us!  I believe that you will agree that we have all witnessed our share of that which “man can do”.  I believe that the cry that is coming forth from the hearts of those who have been apprehended of Him is not for more “superstar ministries”, but like those “certain Greeks” in the scripture, all of creation is groaning and crying out….”…We would see JESUS”!  I personally believe the time has come that God is about to reveal through a people to all of His creation that which has been ordained by Him and will find its fulfillment in a people and through a people as “Christ in us” to a people who like those “certain Greeks” desire to “see HIM” for He and HE ALONE IS WORTHY! 

Our love and blessings to you and John

Bill

The article from the CHRISTASUS website now follows:

From Sandy Hatchell –

I had to write and share that I was in the grocery store this weekend when a woman came up to me and said ‘I don’t know you . . . but I have seen you about town and in here often, and every time I see you I feel better about myself . . . happier somehow and my day is always better”. That it really cemented in me that we carry the life of Jesus in our form to the world. Nothing has changed in 2000 years…He is touching people’s lives in us , ‘as’ us now, all the time. People just see us and are blessed . . . Oh! The joy! And the possibilities for ‘others’ that I am realizing.

On Oct 6, 2011, at 4:29 PM, Bill Oberdorf wrote:

Linda,

When you finish the itinerary of John and Fred for their fall journey through the east, would you please notify me of the same.  Even though my wife and I are past the retirement age, we still are working full-time.  We are also grandparents to our two wonderful grandsons who also live in this area, so when we are not working, we try to spend as much time with them as we can and on certain weekends, weather permitting, we, along with our grandsons and their parents drive to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we own a small house which we inherited from my wife’s mother when she passed away a number of years ago. 

If you will be so kind as to forward to me their itinerary for their trip east, I will be more able to ascertain whether or not I would possibly be able to at least meet them and enjoy even a limited time of fellowship while enjoying a cup of tea together.  Perhaps if they have a time of  fellowship scheduled for close by, Betty and I may be able to attend depending on our work schedule.  We begin our day by getting out of bed Monday-Friday at 4 AM  which someone once told me was not the morning, but the middle of the night and as we grow older, I am more inclined to believe he  was right! 

By the way, thanks for refreshing my mind as to the first name of brother Norman’s wife….Pauline.  I believe that I was confusing her name with the wife of Ken Adams who was the director of CLC in Ft. Washington during the time that we were there   I do recall a number of times when Pauline would call “down” to the main building where we worked and ask if we could burn a number of her old magazines, etc.  Usually this was quite a chore because in order to really burn the magazines fully, we had to almost tear them apart page by page and toss them into the fire, but we were glad to assist her.  Brings back a lot of memories and we cherish them all, well …..at least most of them.  We met and fellowshipped with some very precious saints of God during those days from Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (our neighbors “up the hill”) which was probably better known as WEC and of course, Christian Literature Crusade which was known as CLC.

I am so glad that I took the time to write and renew our past acquaintance and to thank you for being such a blessing, not only to me, but to many others in the Body of Christ.

Love and blessings,

Bill

From: Linda Bunting

To: Bill Oberdorf

Well, if I may be so personal; you’ve brought me to tears once more. Tears of joy for the great break/through that is about to happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Far far too long the precious body of Christ has lived in the bondage of a sin-consciousness; ever crucifying afresh; the dying and rising of our Lord Jesus. Its time for the eyes of their understanding to be opened and to see that He HAS COME WITHOUT the consciousness of sin.

Thank you for reminding me of you CLC connection and that you lived near Norman and Pauling.

I’m not sure where you are now, but John Bunting and Fred Pruitt are about to make their fall journey through the east. Let me know where you are and if you would have time for a cup of tea. They would love to meet you.

Lovingly in Jesus,

Linda

On Oct 6, 2011, at 12:19 PM, Bill Oberdorf wrote:

Dear Linda,

Thanks for your speedy and gracious reply!  I always enjoy hearing from you.

I, too had the joy of meeting Norman Grubb , eating together and enjoying a time of fellowship when I attended a week of meetings that he, as well as DeVern Fromke and some other speakers held at Camp Wabanna in Mayo, Maryland sometime between 1971-1972.  I am not sure that I totally understood the spiritual depth of that which was ministered,, but I know that in spite of my spiritual immaturity at that time, the precious Holy Spirit still “broke thru” and planted a living seed that took root and has grown over the years following.  If I am not mistaken, our dear brother was then in his eighties (I believe he was 83 or 84) at the time. 

My wife, daughter and I had the privilege of both knowing brother DeVern his wife Juanita and son, DeVon and working with him for a brief period of time in his literature ministry in Indiana.

I am familiar with the ministry of Watchman Nee and have probably read 95% or more of books that were taken from his spoken ministry.  I am not familiar with the other name, Beta Sheiriech that you mentioned,but I am sure that those times were times of spiritual refreshing!  I am sure that you recall me mentioning in a previous letter that when my wife, daughter and I were part of Christian Literature Crusade in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, we only lived a few buildings from the house where our dear brother Norman Grubb lived with his wife Betsy (if I recall her name correctly!)   

To close, I quote your two last remarks……..We are excited about what is to come….

But this one thing we know; that the whole body of Christ will be shouting from the roof-tops “For me to live IS Christ.

I add, so am I and to add a closing remark to your last sentence……I heartily add an exuberant AMEN!!

Much love in Christ,

Bill

P.S.  Blessings to you and John!

Dearest Bill and Betty, 

What a word you have spoken; straight from the Holy Spirit to our hearts. Yes, yes, a thousands times YES, to the principle of “a grain of wheat falling into the ground”..

And then to preface it with a quote from T.Austin Sparks is icing on the cake. As a young lady just beginning to follow Jesus, and because his daughter Patty lived here in Louisville and was very close to my bible teacher of my youth, Mr. Sparks came here to speak. And I was privileged to be with him. In those days I was just a follower of he and Watchman Nee and Beta Sheiriech who was with Nee in China just before he was sent to prison. It was soon after that Norman Grubb came to my bible teachers home and I fell heir to him there. 

Through the years the Spirit has taught me the value of laying down my life and taking it up again. And now that you add your stamp of approval upon us it is just another one of many who are speaking forth their word that propels us upward and onward. 

We are excited about what is to come….

But this one thing we know; that the whole body of Christ will be shouting from the roof-tops “For me to live IS Christ.

Much blessings and love,

Linda

On Oct 6, 2011, at 8:06 AM, Bill Oberdorf wrote:

THE PRESENT NEED

The present need: men and women of stature (Ephesians 4:13). Inwhom the cross has done a deep work as to self-interest. Who are notso concerned to preach, or to try and influence others to a doctrineor theory, but whose main influence will be one of LIFE (Colossians
3:4).

T. Austin-Sparks
A Witness and a Testimony
May 1943

Dear Linda,

Loving greetings to you!

I was saddened when I read today’s article, The “Last” Louisville Reunion on your ChristAsUs website this morning. 

Although I had not personally been fortunate enough to attend any of the reunions, I was always blessed by the “good report” that I received concerning the meetings.  I am reminded of the most familiar scripture, “Except a grain  of wheat falls  into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24/NASV).   

The results of the Louisville Reunion will continue to live on in the hearts and lives of those who have been touched by the “word of the Lord” that was spoken, and the fellowship that was enjoyed by those who had the privilege to attend the meetings will live in the hearts and lives of those who were privileged to attend the “family” reunions.

It is quite easy to “lay to rest” that which has once been alive and is now dead, but to lay down that which is still bearing fruit in the lives of those who have been recipients of sharing that Life together is much more difficult, yet we know that “there is an appointed time for everything….” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and we must all be obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

I am sorry that my wife and I were never was able to attend any of the reunions, but we rejoice with those whose lives were spiritually impacted as they came and received “the good seed” that shall continue to bring forth a harvest in its appointed time.

Our love and greetings to you and John.  You are a blessing!

Much love in Christ,

Bill and Betty Oberdorf